KSV News: Short Round 046
Modern Vietnam- 7
From DaNang- Headed South
As shared in my last report, Danang looks like it could literally sink straight down into the ocean. There is so much high rise development on it.
Our stay at Ba Na Hills (Disney World (Far East)) is much less exciting than it was 10 years ago when we visited. The place has more than tripled in size. And the construction of more high-rise buildings with cranes and concrete pumps is underway. I guess the Vietnamese love it here as we love Disneyland. Now it is so much larger, more crowded, and louder than earlier visits, it is no longer attractive.
We have chosen to drive south from Danang as close to the ocean as possible on the older roads. Past China Beach, Marble Mountain and the old airfield. The quarrying of marble is no longer permitted from the Mountain for whatever reason, saving the world from the thousands of the hokey statues made there.
The route south on the coastal road is exciting for us. The road is lined with narrow store fronts and houses behind as described earlier. But this entire area on the coast is basically one large fishing village. All of the harbors are literally filled with boats of all shapes and sizes. None the large commercial, fishing boats, but all the smaller one and two person variety.
Interestingly, we learned that many of the folks from this area got into their boats and headed to China and Hong Kong when the north took over. This is a tough trip in a small boat. Three full days and two nights steering north on the South China Sea, with no land in sight. I admire their bravery. They are the real “boat people”. And on who made this journey were sentenced to a decade of “reeducation” by the northern invaders.
The fishing industry on this part of the coast is all Mom and Pop variety. Many new shrimp and fish forms that pump ocean water into small rubber lined, obviously hand dug, ponds. All have a series of small paddle wheels (which must be electrically driven) to aerate the ponds. There are many inlets from the South China Sea along our way headed south, and each is full of MANY fishing boats and local seafood restaurants.
It is interesting that all of these local ocean front communities, which have existed for many, many decades, are spread between incredibly modern and huge resort developments. Hue, Danang, Hoa An, Nha Trang and Cam Ran all host impressive and very modern tourist resorts, with acres of high rise development. There is basically zero tourism on the magnificent South China Sea coast in between these huge resort developments, so folks there are still living their life as they have for generations.
Walking on the beach, we came across a number of round boats, or “round things” that looked as though they floated and could be used as boats. The story is that the government at one point impose a tax on fishing boats that was significant. The ingenious locals created these round things out of a little bit of bamboo and fiberglass. They tied oars into the sides with ropes so that they were just temporary. When the government inquired, the fisherman contended that these were not boats, but “baskets”. There are still a bunch of them in use today for a low overhead fishing excursions. And giving the government tax collector the finger. See the photo below of a green one on the beach.
For those of you who served in the An Hoa Basin (Go Noi, Arizona, etc), we took a side trip to view the Liberty Bridge. The area looks pretty much the same as it did, except an awful lot more people. The horrible battles that were fought there just seem so incomprehensible looking at it today. I have attached a picture of the old bridge pilings as a remembrance of so many hundreds of us who died or were named trying to keep this section of Vietnam from being overrun by NVA coming out of the mountains. My grudging compliments to the NVA for their ability to develop tunnels and bunkers unseen by us, but able to house their troops, ammunition, and supplies in this open area.
Again, driving south along the coastal road, we came across the Mang Lang church. It is tucked away on a very small road pretty much in the middle of nowhere significant. It was built by missionaries in 1892, and also houses an orphanage in back. It seems to have survived all of the changes intact. And still attracts a significant number of visitors and worshipers. The location was the native village of blessed Andrew of Phu Yen who was beheaded in 1644. It is now an important shrine, as Andrew has been declared Patron of the Youth.
The unique name of this church comes from the name of a rare variety of tree, called Mang Lang, which has a large canopy, oval leaves, and purple flowers. More than one hundred years ago, An Thach was a deserted area with forests of Mang Lang trees (see photo below). Who’da thought???
SF
Bob Koury: Website & Digital Manager